Copeland - I'm Safer on an Airplane

Link.

Favorite lyrics: I think I'm safer with my lungs full of smoke

'I'm Safer on an Airplane' is a slow melodic lullaby of ludicrous thought. It's a simple poetic protest with lyrics that play on our fears. The vocals are soft and inviting, but it paints a picture that's melancholy and depressing. It pretty much transports you into an airplane, flying through the clouds and looking out a rainy window. It's a thought-provoking song, but it's also a musically talented one.

Glitter Pox rating: 55% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

Delta Spirit - White Table

Favorite lyric:  Maybe I'll give you my love but it won't be true

The steady ticking of the drumbeat is what leads this song, going into an almost indigenous chaos at the chorus. The rest of the music blends in with it effortlessly; it's nice to see a song that isn't reliant on the vocals, even though those vocals are fantastic. The lead singer almost sounds like Marcus Mumford, if he pursued a different genre. But what's so great about this song is that every element is balanced in a way that makes it unforgettable. Each time you listen to it, you pick up on different parts of the song; and because it has roots in a blend of genres, it can be easily adored by a pretty wide audience.

Glitter Pox rating: 70% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

The Drums - Down by the Water

Link.

Favorite lyrics: if they stop loving you, I won't stop loving you

This song is like a modern reboot of a golden oldies station, circa the Stand by Me days (which the song significantly brings to mind.) The elongated vowel howls have a sleepy stream to them, and they give off that sad longing that made songs like these so popular generations back. It brings some of that old classic sound to a new decade, and it'll be interesting to see how it's interpreted in a contemporary genre. It's different because it's so familiar, and that's a contrast that makes it easy to listen to.

Glitter Pox rating: 61% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

Of Monsters and Men - Little Talks

Link.

Favorite lyrics: There's an old voice in my head that's holding me back
I tell her that I miss our little talks

Of Monsters and Men is a blend of culturally styled music and unique voices. The accordion adds an element to Little Talks that makes it more upbeat and lightening, and the back-and-forth duo of singing plays against the attention-grabbing chorus really well. It's folk-sounding, but also has a really approachable energy that a lot of slower folk music doesn't have. Their vocals remind us of The XX's, but the music is such a differing flow of notes that it's pretty incomparable.

Glitter Pox rating: 89% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

The Head and The Heart - Rivers and Roads

Favorite lyrics: and I miss your face like hell

Rivers and Roads is a crescendo; it builds from quiet music to strong vocals based mostly around harmony. The lyrics and melody are pretty simple, but The Head and the Heart has enough vocal strength to be solely sung. It uses silence and quiet to its advantage, mastering the perfect balance between softness and passion. The "oooohs" have a kind of Wake Up - Arcade Fire feel to them, in that just hearing them alone makes you able to place the song. This is the kind of folk song that's meant for nights by a dark river.

Glitter Pox rating: 73% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

Flight Facilities Feat. Giselle - Crave

Crave by Flight Facilities Feat. Giselle

Favorite lyrics: I walked in the room dripping in gold.

Crave is such a lyrically addicting, dripped-in-gold song. It's very soft spoken, but also very blatant - the story is a clear one, without muddled riddles inside of verses. It takes a simple, powerful feeling and puts it in a simple, powerful song. It has a very easy beat, but it still makes you want to dance (with a fog machine.) Very smooth, quirky song.

Glitter Pox rating: 88% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

Funeral Party - Finale

Finale by Funeral Party

Favorite lyrics: asleep your whole life and you called it fun / so wake up kid and realize your life / we're moving closer to your demise

If every member of Airborne Toxic Event had a younger sibling and they made a band together, it would be Funeral Party. 'Finale' has that vibrant youthful feel to it that makes you want it to play as the soundtrack to your life. It's one of those songs that make you want to go outside at night, to kick pebbles and run until your cheeks turn red, just to feel alive. It's a song that makes you crave life, to crave what it promises.

Glitter Pox rating: 77% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

Barnstormer Tour - Akron, OH

Driving down a windy trail surrounded by trees isn't what we're used to when we're heading to concerts; we're used to the streets of Cleveland, which always smell comfortingly like exhaust. So it was refreshing to be able to go to Daytrotter's Barnstormer tour stop in Akron, OH, stopping at scenic cemeteries along the way and being able to breathe fresh air.

After crossing the railroad tracks that lead to the Conrad Botzum Farmstead Barn, we knew it would be a good night. The barn itself was gorgeous, decorated with glowing horse lights and filled with a really good atmosphere. You could see out to the fields, so you could watch the sun go down as the bands played. It was one of those days where nature behaved for once, and the night brought a cloudy veil over everything that made you forget there was a morning coming tomorrow.

The first band to take the barn was Wildlife. Despite the lead singer rocking a leg cast, they had enough energy to fill the entire woods and surrounding fields, much less the crowd. They were very, very impressive. When they cut off the music and harmonized with just their voices, it gave you chills even though the sun was still out. They played as if they could break the entire barn down.

After them was Princeton, who we were there to see. They had a lot of crowd interaction and were really involved with their music. We've seen a lot of jaded bands who aren't into their own music any more, so it's good to see musicians who still love what they do. It felt like they were playing in your living room, it was such a relaxed, engaging set.

Doug Paisley, who went on right after Princeton, could play. He got up there with just his acoustic guitar and his voice, and he filled the barn with it. It was getting dark, and the lull of his voice made it a kind of surreal night. Fireflies started lighting up in the barn as he played, and a bat decided to join the party and swoop around in the airspace. The lights played shadows across the back of the barn, and the music was perfect.

White Rabbits followed Doug Paisley, and it went from quiet peace to full-on dance rock. They were extremely well practiced and made the barn floor roll from the crowd's stomping feet. We'd listened to their latest album before, and hearing it live amplified the precision they had recorded.

Hacienda ended the night, and it was the perfect band to wind down to. They seemed like a well-organized jam band, music you could end the night on. It was like it summarized everything you'd already heard and sent you home with good music in your ears.


Daytrotter put together a fantastic group of bands and musicians, and it was a show that we won't ever forget.

The Dead Trees - World Gone Global

Favorite lyrics: How did the world become your ashtray? / Didn't think I had no feelings, well I do, somewhere.

World Gone Global has an underlying beach pop tone. Like a male-fronted-version of When We Swam by Thao + the Get Down Stay Down, it uses a light, wavy sound and monotonous but lyrical vocals that sound brilliantly like a good-voiced conversation. The lyrics in this one aren't nearly as happy as the beat, but it's refreshingly unique because of that. Sad songs are usually filled with slow chords and non-choreographed voices, but this one is matched with something that dances with the grief that the lyrics might bring. It makes you unsure of what emotion you should feel, so it kind of ends up being a bottle of something sand-filled and slightly citrus-y in your stomach.

Glitter Pox rating: 61% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox

Emma Louise - Jungle

Favorite lyrics: my head is a jungle

Florence meets The Cranberries after a week without sleep, and this is what's produced. The kind of gorgeous-voiced symphony of chaos that can both lull your eyelids to close and make you want to dance within seconds of each verse. The music in Jungle is very silent and simple until the chorus and the swift pattern of the words plays over a drumbeat that's pure organized mayhem; at the start, Emma Louise's voice carries the song alone, with only simple beats in the background, until the maniac of the song hits full stride and it turns your mind into a metaphorical jungle. It's like the slowly silent and simple music of the verses is how the singer is perceived and the blur of the chorus is what her mind is actually thinking. It makes for a song that's very easy to relate to but rarely voiced.

Glitter Pox rating: 85% contagious

Hope you catch it,
The Glitter Pox